Sturgis tennis finishes seventh

This past weekend, the Trojans completed their season at the state finals — their biggest goal heading into the season.

“We are very happy with the season overall and sad that is has to end,” coach George Earl said. “Our guys did well and almost everyone won their first matches, so that was great to see from our program.”

Sturgis tied for seventh with Coldwater in the Division 3 finals held in Kalamazoo. They both earned 11 points.

Taking first place was Detroit Country Day with 39 points. East Grand Rapids came in second with 27 while St. Joseph was third with 26 points.

The weather wasn’t exactly great as several matches were moved indoors. In the end, however, Earl said the weather wasn’t too much of a distraction.

“The weather wasn’t ideal, but I don’t think it affected us at all — everyone else was playing in the same conditions,” Earl said. “We met many of our goals this season and I think it all culminated at the finals, where we came together once again as a team and played well.”

Nick Rehm at second singles made it to the weekend, ultimately falling in the semifinals. Rehm was seeded fifth and easily took care of Landon Voigt of Mount Pleasant 6-2, 6-1. He then beat Danny Kroeze, the fourth seed, of Holland Christian 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to reach the semis. In that final four he fell to eventual state champion Noah Karoub of Detroit Country Day.

“Nick did a great job of getting to the semifinals and we’re obviously very proud of him,” Earl said.

Earlier in the year Rehm had beaten Kroeze, Earl said, so he did have some familiarity.

At first singles Eric Bartley fell to Sam Schuster of DeWitt in his first match. Third singles saw Avery Peterson, who was seeded sixth, win his first match over Tristen Fox of DeWitt 7-6 (7-6) and 6-4. In his second match Peterson fell to Sam Forstner, the third seed, from East Grand Rapids.

At fourth singles Seth Miller was seeded fifth. He won his opening match over Ty Pugh of Cadillac 6-2, 6-0. In the second match he fell to Trent Kayne of Cranbrook-Kingswood to end his tournament.

First doubles saw Chad VanDosen and Kris Ransberger earn a win in their first match. They beat Eddy Trudeau and Dan Kozlowski of Mount Pleasant 6-2, 6-1 before falling to fourth-seeded East Grand Rapids in the next round.

Andrew Airgood and Nate Sisson earned a 6-3, 7-5 win at second doubles in their opener over Haslett. In the second match the Trojan duo fell to East Grand Rapids in three sets 4-6, 6-2 and 2-6.

Third doubles fell in their opening match. Ben Sisson and Nick Foley were paired against the sixth seed of Spring Lake and were beaten 6-2, 6-2.

At fourth doubles Caleb Northrop and Matt Polzin won their opening match over Chelsea 6-3, 6-3. They then fell to the second seeded team from Cranbrook-Kingswood to end their season.

“By far, this was a great season for us,” Earl said. “We had a very strong season and I’m proud of our team. We accomplished a lot.”

Those accomplishments, aside from a Top 10 finish at the state finals, included a SMAC East division championship, a third place finish in the SMAC and a runner-up finish at regionals to St. Joseph.

“I’m going to miss it, I’m going to miss being around this team,” Earl said. “At times this season when we’d play in a tournament I’d think to myself ‘Oh, this if No. 1 doubles last time at Allegan’ or whatever. That kind of hit hard at state. It’s going to be on and off for the next few days, but the banquet will be tough.”

When describing his team’s season in total, Earl said it was tough to see it finally come to an end. Many of the players on this team have played multiple years for Earl and they’ve built a family-type atmosphere. He also said that was an extension from great parenting and the character of his players.

“This is a great group of kids and parents — playing the tough schedule we had with all the stress, it could have been easy for people to have problems but it didn’t happen with us,” Earl said. “These kids are quality kids and their parents are quality people. I think that’s a great testament to why we were able to succeed this season.”

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